I miss the days of not really knowing anything about a game until it was about to actual release. I guess that was also the time when you couldn't pay to get into alphas/beta. The lack of patience in today's generation continues to open the flood gates to greed and lazy development. Companies takes your money first before you give to them. How they've went about trying to get your money has never changed. They've always pitched key words/phrases and showed teasers, its just the desperation and impatience that exists more now than in the past that leads to so many failures in this particular industry.

Of note for those who did not know:In response to PC Gamer's inquiry, Kickstarter told me they've informed Intrepid Studios, which has removed Kickstarter pledges from its referral program. Since then, Intrepid Studios has significantly updated their referral program page to reflect these changes and has removed examples of how much money YouTubers could hope to make. They’ve also specified that the cash that people can earn from the referral program will be paid out quarterly after the game has launched.

I think he also summed it up well: There’s potential for something great, but the risks feel greater too. Anyone thinking of supporting Ashes of Creation prior to launch, whether through Kickstarter or any other means, should think carefully before proceeding.----------------------

Hmm.. I wonder if it's even legit to update the referral program retroactively. I mean, some people may have paid money to advertise the game under the assumption that they would get 15% of revenue they generated...

His summary is just common sense. Unfortunately, common sense hasn't been so common in the past few years.

You have no idea what you have started, my friend....
My 2 cents. Keep the game as it was and then make adjustments for the hardcore that stick it out 6+ months. I'm with many who have been saying that really only those petitioning for vanilla should get a true say, unfortunately it needs to be found out who those really are, so people who can endure that "harsh" environment can give genuine feedback. You can't even really credit people who played vanilla on private servers because not every one is the same and could've been adjusted randomly. Hell, I've even seen some vanilla private servers with heirloom, so....Yeah, just let blizzard release it as is and then go from there. Only things they really need to do is address known bugs and make sure the servers are stable enough since this WILL get a huge hit when it first comes up, tapering off after a few months.